(Un)Wanted Reunion
by Jinksie
Summary: And what if Paige and Walter knew each other before The Diner and Paige was one of Them? My very first shot at writing (anything).
1. Prologue

**WPOV**

I looked for her everywhere. Physically and virtually everywhere. And I couldn't find her. This is not something I dealt with before. Nobody can disappear on me like that. There is always a trace, a plane ticket bought with credit card, new document, anything.

But not this time. I must admit she outsmarted me. I checked airports, train and bus stations. I even checked all the car rental companies and came up with nothing. Not a trace.

The way she left, I knew she didn't want me to follow her, but this doesn't mean I didn't try. And she knew that. She put all her efforts in disappearing and it worked. I, one of the five smartest people on this planet, couldn't find her.

When we met a week before in my apartment, I didn't imagine that she came to say good bye. Logically there was no reason to. Professionally, there was nothing we couldn't do when we worked together. And on a personal level all seemed good too. We were both enjoying this relationship. Or so I thought. But the words that came out were just the opposite. _"I don't want to be with you anymore! I don't feel the same way Walter. I don't love you."_ Those were her words. Those were my words. But it hurt to hear them.

At the beginning I thought that's all they were - words. But after days of digging I had to admit it was more than that. She didn't want me anymore. Paige was gone.

This aching in my breast, it was something new to me. It was real. For years I didn't believe in love. Then she came and she made me reconsider my beliefs. All that just to abandon me.

What is the point in loving if it leads to such pain?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **PPOV**

Just another crappy day at work. My boss is seriously edgy today, I wonder what happened to him, he won't stop running all over the place and barking at me and Bob, the cook. I just entered the kitchen to take 5 minutes when I heard people shouting outside.

"Owner! Agent Gallo, Homeland Security. We need to commandeer your diner for a national emergency. You can stay. But that's it."

 _What the hell is going on out there?_ I looked back into the diner through a small window in the kitchen door and saw my boss was collecting a small, but well-filled envelope from the counter top. He yelled with all his force "Everybody out!" He started frantically running around the dinner, showing people out "Come on! Everybody out! Come on, come on!"

Bruce, one of the regular customers tried to pay before leaving but Nemos just waved him out.

Then one more guy in a black suit entered the diner with a bunch of people following him. Everybody seemed to be in a hell of a rush, running and shouting to each other. The tension was palpable.

I grabbed my bag and car keys and rushed through the kitchen door, heading outside. But Nemos apparently had other plans for me. He caught me when I was about to open the exit door.

"No, no, no, no, you stay."

"What? But that guy just said…" I started, but he cut me off.

"I know. Listen, my immigration status makes me not so comfortable around Federal agents. You lock up."

While he was speaking I looked around and noticed _him_. Sitting in a booth in the opposite corner of the diner was the guy I thought I will never see again in my life.

I knew I should say something to protest. But I was so shocked that I couldn't focus enough to say anything. As soon as my boss noticed I wasn't really paying attention to him, he turned around and left me in the diner.

I wanted to move. I wanted so much to move. To get out of there before _he_ notices me. To escape. But my body refused to budge. It was as if my brain lost the connection with the rest of me. What did I do to deserve this?

All the memories once lost started to come back to me. The wall I built years ago to protect myself was starting to break. I was lost in the images, watching the man I once knew settle in my diner. All those nights we spent working on so many projects. Rush of blood in our veins and the feeling of accomplishment once we found a solution to a particularly tricky problem.

And all those other feelings, the ones I don't even want to think of, the ones I thought were lost forever, buried deep inside my soul and forgotten. All were dangerously close to getting out. I was scared.

It's been like what, 10 years since we've seen each other? And he didn't change. Still the same look of pure concentration in his eyes as he worked. As if nothing existed, only him and the problem at hand. Which was actually a good thing right now. More chances to be able to leave unnoticed. Because I knew I had to leave.

But just when I won my internal battle and my body could move again, he looked up from his computer and our eyes met. At that moment an avalanche of thoughts and feelings crossed my soul and I knew I wouldn't be able to go.

I was in trouble.

 **WPOV**

 _Paige. I am seeing Paige._ What went through my head the moment I understood it was her, was shock. It's been years since we saw each other. My brain was working on full speed before, but it accelerated even more at that moment. I have to admit I had issues wrapping it around the fact that it was really her. After all, she managed to completely hide herself from me years ago, making it impossible even for me to track her.

And now she was standing there, in the diner. The same diner I was in.

My brain started to run probabilities of such a thing happening and they were almost non-existent. But there she was. Probably even more surprised than me. Or maybe scared? I wasn't sure…

 _What should I do now?_ This question was echoing in my mind. _What should I do?_ I've never been in a similar situation before, I had no idea how a normal person would react.

So I stayed there, just looking at her.

Then I heard Cabe "Roughly 89 minutes until the first plane goes down. Their lives are in our hands."

As hard as it was, I looked away and back on my laptop. I was strangely uncomfortable, the thought of her leaving the diner when I wasn't looking was making me restless. After a second of hesitation I looked up again, just to make sure she was still there. And she was. Without thinking I smiled at her.


	3. Chapter 2

First of all, huge thanks for all your reviews. It's great to know that people actually enjoyed this thing!

I really wanted to answer your questions, so here it goes:

#Emma: thanks for giving your opinion. I totally understand your point of view. But it is certainly not mine. I mean I know what the idea in the series was to make Paige "normal" and all. And I know they kind of had to do it this way to make it more interesting given their target audience. It's just that (especially at the beginning) her character was a little "light" in my view. And I have to say I prefer her in the second season because she starts to have something of a weight in the scientific stuff because of her experience in interactions with the geniuses. I mean she starts to at least "feel" how science work sometimes.

But once again, this is my preference because I simply love all this scientific stuff, this stuff is why I started to watch the series in the first place. So I am simply developing the part I like, plus I am giving Paige something more to do :)

Now as to making Paige a real genius, this is not really my idea here. I mean she will certainly be smart. Like, really really smart, and will have a certain proficiency in one particular field, but she will not have all the social drawbacks of being a genius. She will stay THE person that understands normals.

Wow, I went quite far here ;) Anyways, I hope this helps to understand my choices.

#WriterFreak001: I can't promise all chapters will be long, but yes, most of them should be longer than what I posted so far (those were kind of a test run ;))

#maka loves chocolateee: I'm going to weave in the story of their past. I have a general outline, just not sure yet how and where I will add it

#Guest, asking for Drew: I have a pretty clear idea of Drew in the story, he fits in just fine ;) but he won't appear right away

As to Ralph being Walter's son - question to be answered soon enough. Patience ;)

I know this was long. Sorry. I promise this was a one-timer.

Now, I have another chapter. Hope you'll enjoy!

#

 **PPOV**

He was there, looking at me. No reaction. It was never easy to read Walter's expression and I had no clue what he was thinking. I mean I know feelings are not his forte. I was not expecting him to be happy, even less to show it. But still, it hurt. With all this time I forgot how to deal with it. So I just nodded in his direction and for the first time I looked around.

There were three more people in the dinner along with Walter. Two guys and a girl. It seemed that they knew each other well. Big guy seemed very nervous. As soon as he entered, he started swiping the counter top with something that looked as antibacterial swipe. My suspicions got confirmed when I heard him talking to one of the agents.

"What are you doing?"

"Any idea the bacteria on counter tops? Just from chicken alone, there are over 20 diseases you can get from exposure. This is wildly upsetting."

At this point Walter was working again, so I approached the big guy asking, "Is there something wrong at LAX?"

"It's top-secret."

"Since when does Walter work on top secret stuff?"

The way his eyes got all big and his jaw dropped I knew I said too much. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?

"Oh, you know Walter?"

"She knows Walt?" The other guy asked so I took a better look at him. My height, blond, pretty face. The way he wouldn't stop to play with his hat made him look a little bit self-conscious about his looks. But the look in his eyes made it clear that he knows his way around people.

"You know Walt? Where did you two meet?" He was clearly waiting for an answer.

I was saved by a doorbell, but when I looked in that direction I cursed under my breath. It was the sitter dropping Ralph off.

As soon as my son entered the diner, he headed for his usual spot at the angle of the countertop, close to the exit door without even looking around. I heard him greet me as always:

"Hi mom."

I could feel the eyes of all of them on my back when I went to him. All except Walter's, thank God. But then I heard him talk to my son:

"Ralph? Good to see you again." What the hell? How does he know my son?

That's when Walter looked at me. He must have understood the look on my face because he explained. He was in this very diner yesterday, fixing WiFi. Must have been just before I arrived at work.

This is really going to be bad. How is it possible that in only 5 minutes my whole life went into pieces? All I was trying so desperately to hide just went out the window.

When I was mentally throwing every known insult on myself, Walter just worked. As if nothing happened. Well, for him I suppose nothing happened. Just another ordinary day. I observed him as he was handing out assignments for his team, completely lost in the task at hand.

"Happy, script a POST check after the system's stabilized. Sylvester, run the odds on the patch linking back into the software. We do not want the same problem tomorrow. Toby, look for a saboteur."

"Walter, look for coffee. This is gonna take me, like, 90 seconds." Quite a cocky attitude seen that they were speaking about tens of planes going down and killing thousands of people.

I watched everybody move to their tasks. All four of them pure efficiency at work.

Then, when I actually started to kind of admire them, they started to discuss what would happen if they failed.

"Screw this up, brains and guts are gonna bounce all over town."

"Actually, fuel tanks ignite on impact. You won't find a body part."

"Eh, a blood-soaked spleen could burn at a slower rate." Whoa, the admiration just flew out the window. This as hell is not how you act around a child.

"Hey!" I yelled to get their attention. "Please check your language around my nine-year-old," I said. They all looked at me as if I was an alien. "Be decent in my place of work? Thank you." They surely didn't like it, but they stopped.

At this moment this agent Gallo, their boss I think, entered the diner handing a radio to Walter.

"Secure channel to LAX. Air traffic supervisor is on the line. His name is Brooks." I listened the exchanges between them, more and more bewildered of what was happening.

It looked like a major security breach at the LAX airport. No traffic control because the communication system has been infected with a virus. So no contact with any of the 54 planes circling at that moment above the city. Walter was there to help land them. Not an easy job. And with his way of working with people, in only few words he made an enemy from the guy from the tower control by calling him incapable and by insulting airport's security systems. Yay, way to go Walt! I was just in front of Walter's computer and I'm sure he didn't notice the look on Brooks' face when he heard that. Half anger that some stranger speaks to him this way, and half stress because he really wasn't able to deal with this situation all by himself.

So the next moment Brooks was nicely following Walter's instructions. Or at least as well as he could. He really wasn't much for computers and he just missed everything. He got replaced by another guy completely overwhelmed by the situation. All the way from my spot I could see his hands shaking as hell. And to add to all this, the fed guy was just yelling at him. _Seriously._

Rapidly, Walter was slowed to a halt in his attempts. It seemed that the installation disk for the software that was hacked was nowhere to be found. Which isn't such a surprise, after 15 years. Everything gets misplaced, even in such a place. And especially if you don't use it for so long. Maybe they even threw it away. So they needed a plan B.

Blackstern Data Storage. That's where the software is backuped. So they just needed to get a copy of the software from the backup server and e-mail it to Brooks. He clicks a link, the software gets installed and the system is up and running again. Easy.

#

 **WPOV**

I was working, and to almost anybody I would look as if all was normal. But it wasn't and I knew that most people around me would notice it soon enough. I had to focus on the task or I would have not only planes dropping from the sky but one quite skilled psychiatrist on my back and I really wanted to avoid that.

And still at that moment I was unable to fully concentrate on the job. Part of my brain was replaying the moment I saw Paige over and over again in a failed attempt to comprehend the feelings this moment created. I was disoriented by the flow of thoughts. I am not used to not being able to control my mind but at this moment it was completely impossible. I was starting to panic.

"Blackstern's on Ventura. Northeast. Opposite direction of the gridlock," Sylvester's comment came just in time to enable me to keep it together for a while longer. Perfect. So we have the location, we will be able to retrieve the uncorrupted version of the software. But as soon as this passed my mind, the controller at LAX provided an important precision.

"You should know that the data is backed up to the latest software every 12 hours on the five."

"So in 30 minutes, the last remaining usable software will be corrupted." We need to hurry or all those people will die soon. This thought made me highly uncomfortable, giving me a necessary boost to act. "Happy, Toby, get to the server and get me that backup disk. Sylvester, call the data center; tell them we're on our way. I'm gonna prep here to relay to LAX."

"Bates, take 'em. Stay in contact," Cabe ordered.

Both Happy and Toby stormed out of the diner along with the fed and I started to prepare the connection with LAX to be ready for them.

#

 **PPOV**

Walter seemed perfectly calm and in charge of the situation. And as certain as I was that he was handling the LAX part of it, I also noticed that he displayed some signs of discomfort. And this must have been because of me. Because it was as much of a shock for him as it was for me. The way he held himself, all the muscles in his body were so tight. The way I've seen only few times before. As if someone was trying to hug him. Walter does not handle physical contact well. Most of the time...

Physical contact... I really shouldn't go there. I can't go there. What was is no more and I can't afford to dig out those memories.

Instead I decided to break the ice and approach him.

"Here, I thought you might be thirsty." I brought him a glass of water. Walter I remembered never thought of his needs when he worked.

"Thank you," he looked at me completely surprised.

"Looks like life changed for you." Feeble attempt on small talk from my side, but it's not like I had lots I could go on.

"It's a very recent development," he shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with me being around.

"Mmhmm," yeah, that would be it I suppose. I turned, ready to leave him alone when he actually picked up.

"Your life is not the same as 10 years ago either."

"Yes," I looked at Ralph. "I had to grow up fast, become responsible."

"You didn't have to run." His eyes, as well as mine, were on Ralph when he said that.

"Yes, I had to," this said I turned and went to Ralph. Then i heard Happy through the radio.

"Walter, we're approaching the data center. We should have the backup hard drive soon."

"Copy that, Happy. Standing by."

And then after a few moments came the bad news.

"Walt? We got a problem. No one's home."

#


	4. Chapter 3

I'm glad a lot of you find this twist interesting! Makes me want to continue

I'm still using lots of the material from the Pilot episode here, it's kind of a transitory one. Even if most chapters will be based on episodes, I should have more deviations/completely new stuff coming next.

So here is another chapter. Please let me know what you think in your reviews!

###

 **PPOV**

 _"Walt? We got a problem. No one's home."_

As soon as those words left Happy's mouth, the mood in the room became tense. I could sense that lives of all those people were really hanging by a thread. Everybody was nervous. Especially the fed guy.

"You're the mechanical engineer! Pick the lock!" He shouted into the radio.

"I have my tools, but it'll take a lot longer than the six minutes we have before the bad software backs up onto the servers."

"Bates, get them in." I could almost see the expression of pure terror on Happy's face the moment those words left Cabe's mouth. As I suspected, she immediately dismissed it and from what she described, a 75-millimeter, six-layer polycarbonate casing, the guns feds carry with them couldn't possibly break that door. It would most probably deflect and kill somebody. They were in a deadlock.

Now there was only four percent chance of success. Or at least that's what Sylvester told us. I started to be quite impressed at his capacity of running numbers.

After fed's next words I decided it was time to take Ralph out of the room. I can't let him listen to them talking about tens of thousands of people dying, so I made sure he went into the office.

I could feel Walter was getting more and more tense. The idea of so many people dying because he couldn't find a solution to a problem was really getting to him. I remembered how he would just shut the world out in those kind of moments in the past. But not this time. No. This time he took the decision, probably one of the hardest in his life.

"We got to abandon the data center. We got to pull the team back, get four minds working together at once, and then, maybe within an hour, we'll be able…"

"By then, the first two planes will be out of fuel. Do you really think you can come up with an option by then?"

Wow! This is just not going to happen. "Hold on. You're just accepting two planes going down," I said looking at Walter and the fed. They can't be seriously considering something like that, right?

"We lose two planes to save 54. That's a trade we're gonna have to make," fed answered looking me straight in the eye. As if that was normal. As if sacrificing human lives was normal. I suppose my face must have shown how shocked I was because Walter explained.

"Agent Gallo is implementing the greater good theory. Loss is acceptable as long as the resulting gain is large enough." Oh, this is just bullshit. I was seriously getting angry. I just couldn't leave it like that. "No, it isn't. You save everybody. Normal people save everybody."

"I'm not normal," Walter answered looking me in the eye, daring me to argue with him.

"I don't care! You are the one having a 197 IQ. Use it!"

"What would you have me do! If you have any better idea, please share!" He was on the edge and he might actually lose it if we do nothing. I had to help him. I knew very well that if failed at saving all those people, it would haunt him forever.

And just like that I went from a mere observer to a participant. This whole conversation took only a moment, but we were really running out of time there. I was sure Happy could hear the whole conversation through the radio so I spoke directly to her.

"Try resetting the lock! If it's one of the standard ones you may be able to open it this way."

###

 **WPOV**

 _"Try resetting the lock! If it's one of the standard ones you may be able to open it this way."_ And just like that, Paige gave us the solution.I can't believe I didn't see it before. So obvious.

"Happy, you heard that? We need to reset the door lock. We need to brown-out ten blocks around the data center." I looked at Cabe so he knows what we will do in a few moments, just in case he needs to do something on his side.

"Kill the electricity to part of Los Angeles?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Just turn it off in that one building!" Cabe said. His ignorance of such a basic information as why this is not possible seemed incredible to me, so I just blocked him. The next thing I heard was Paige explaining the process.

"We can't focus a surge that precisely, but a brief power surge will open up the door, and we'll be able to get in."

While most of my brain was occupied by gathering the information on what needs to be done in order to solve this problem as fast as possible, a small part of it was thinking how convenient Paige's presence here was just at that very moment. I was perfectly aware of the fact that without her a whole bunch of people would be as good as dead by now. And there was a high probability that it would affect me in some negative way, making it difficult to pursue this work.

But this wasn't the case and thinking of this now serves no goal. So I forced my brain to focus entirely on the task at hand.

"All right, we need to find a municipal junction box that covers that area. It should be on a commercial street," I said through the radio. I heard them moving at the other side of the radio, so this was taken care of. Now to Sylvester.

"Calculate the kilowatts it'll take it'll take to overpower a surge within a ten-block radius," I said.

I saw Sly moving toward the blackboard. He became nervous as soon as he looked at it. Following his gaze I noticed a large number of chalk pieces scattered on the support beneath the blackboard. Sylvester started to anxiously rearrange the pieces.

"No, no, no, no, no. Not now, Sylvester." We can't lose our time now.

Cabe got all anxious seeing Sylvester toy with the pieces of the chalk instead of doing the math. He questioned Sly on his reason to do so.

"I can't calculate without order; it's my process."

"My process involves my foot in your ass." Even I could see that Cabe was getting highly impatient. We already lost 2 minutes.

I noticed that Paige was watching Sylvester. She understood the situation instantly and approached him. "Hold on," she said, sweeping all the pieces of chalk out, but one. "Here. One piece. It's the biggest and the smallest, so it's in order."

"That works." I was impressed at her capability to solve the problem. Yet another one.

Only a few seconds later we heard Happy shout through the radio. She found a box. But we weren't ready yet.

"Uh, Sylvester, I don't want to hurry your process..."

"All right! We need exactly 500,000 kilowatts!"

###

 **PPOV**

Sylvester's answer came just in time. I could feel the tension in the room rise to almost improbable levels. I couldn't take my eyes off of Walter. He was fully focused on what was happening on the other side of the radio now. The situation wasn't ideal, but there was still hope. They still had about 10 min to open the door and retrieve the hard drive.

I wanted to go and check on Ralph in the office, but I noticed him sitting on a stool behind the counter. Sylvester was standing there, looking at him. When I came next to him, the big guy started speaking, still looking at my son.

"He doesn't even know we're here. He's wondering if those flashlights can be powered by the heat of the hand that holds them. Or he's calculating the cubic footage of the octagon clock. He thinks about anything. Everything."

I smiled at this attempt to explain my son. I knew very well who he was. A genius, just like his father. But I couldn't quite grasp the depth of his intelligence yet.

"Few parents meaningfully engage with mentally enabled children. It's not your fault. It's just how we are." I looked at Sylvester, just to make sure he really didn't catch who I was. But he was just so serious. He really didn't notice that I wasn't just a regular person. Maybe not a genius, but still smarter than most. But it's not like I really showed my potential here. So yeah... Instead of correcting him I went with his thought.

"How did your parents handle it?"

"Oh, I-I haven't spoken to them in ten years."

That is just sad. I'm sure that even if I wasn't aware of Ralph's situation, I would do everything I could to connect with my child. Hell, I am hiding my capabilities from him since the moment he was born because I want to give him as normal a childhood as possible. A parent that shows a nine year old how to hack is not really a standard one.

While I was lost in thoughts about parenting techniques, the fed guy was getting more and more impatient. He started questioning Walter about Toby. I was actually very curious about those people Walter seems so comfortable around, so I listened intently.

"Toby grew up penniless, gambled his way through school. Even then, he got his doctorate at the age of 17. Sometimes people like us need repair before we can fit into your world."

So very true. I know how Walter had to struggle to fit in, how he still does, so I'm not surprised he took others under his wings. He always wanted to help people. Especially people like himself, geniuses who have issues functioning in the society. And from what I've seen so far, he's doing a good job too.

Toby marched into the diner few moments after, grinning as if he just won a lottery. "Seats back and tray tables up! Those planes are as good as landed," he said, his hands all over a small bundle he was carrying.

"Endlessly patting himself on the back, the whole ride here," Happy mocked him, but with a look on her face saying that even if she won't admit it, she is at least as proud of her as Toby is of himself.

"I just want a statue of me at LAX," Toby said and handed Walter the hard drive. "Now what?"

"Easy as sending a file," Walter answered, satisfied smile on his face. "Mr. Brooks, in a moment, you'll receive a bug-free version of the software. All you have to do is open your e-mail and click a link."

Walter was furiously typing on the keyboard while explaining the next steps to a shaken air traffic controller on the other end of the line. But rapidly Walter's face fell and we all heard fast beeping coming from his laptop.

"Wait. The hard drive's frozen. The files are corrupted. They're useless," was all Walter said when he looked at Toby and Happy. He was clearly in distress, looking at everybody in the room, as if waiting for someone to tell him that this is not true, but at the same time he knew it will not happen. The files were useless.

"We took it out as carefully as we could," was all Happy could say.

"How'd you transport it?" There was a hint of blame in Walter's voice.

"It was wrapped in a towel, tucked in a door console so I wouldn't drop it."

"Was there an audio speaker in the door?"

"Yeah." Toby was getting uncomfortable under Walter's gaze. "So what?"

"The magnet erased the hard drive. It's useless now."

###


	5. Chapter 4

In one of the latest reviews I got a request to update more often. I would love to be able to do this, but it's technically not possible. Between personal life, professional life and the fact that I am still writing this I can't do more than one chapter per week. I only hope I will be able to keep that pace up. So sorry in advance…

Hope that you'll still stick to the story.

Anyways, here is another chapter. Enjoy and review :)

###

 **PPOV**

" _The magnet erased the hard drive. It's useless now."_

The look in Toby's eyes was one of terror. "No, no, no, no! It's not my fault. I didn't know anything about magnets in car speakers!" He was becoming restless as the meaning of what Walter just said started to sink in.

"You've stolen hundreds of them, Toby," Walter snapped. "No place on Earth has what we need." As he said that, he looked me directly in the eye. I could tell he was starting to feel defeated by the way his shoulders slouched and his whole body kind of diminished.

As if this wasn't enough, the Fed guy added in a low voice "FBI just texted. They're out, too."

"We're at less than one percent chance of success."

We were all looking at Walter when Cabe said, "Walter, you know what I'm going to tell you. There is a fourth team. Tracking the planes via radar. Fighter jets, circling over the ocean."

The implications of this one sentence hit me. "You'll shoot them down?" I looked at Cabe, incredulous. My whole body was shouting at him to deny it.

"Same protocol was activated on 9/11 to prevent possible ground casualties." Walter's voice was so flat when he said that. It was like a reproach, an indirect plea.

"Can you think of anything we can do?" the fed asked Walter.

With a quick look around, Walter shook his head.

I was speechless. Somewhere in the back of my head I registered Cabe making the call that was about to decide the fate of hundreds of people. But what I was really focused on, was Walter. All the color drained from his face. I could see his breath quickened and hands were starting to shake. He briefly looked at me and stormed out of the diner, almost knocking Toby down.

They were all shutting down, avoiding each other's gaze. It was as if all of a sudden all life drained from the room.

I get it, lives of many people depends on their actions here and they probably feel like they failed. But as long as those planes are up there, there is hope. They should focus on finding a solution instead of on self-pity! With that I checked on Ralph to make sure he was inside and I went after Walter.

I found him outside, at the back of the diner, bend over and gasping for air. His body was tense, I could see the veins on his neck pulsate. He looked so fragile, as if the smallest thing could actually break him. I cautiously approached him with a strong intention of doing something, anything, to help.

"Hey Walter. I know what's going on." The moment he raised his head I knew this will not be easy. How can I help a man who believes he's carrying world's future on his back?

"You're doing what Ralph does when he doesn't understand how to fix a problem. He panics and shuts down. When you don't know something, you feel like you don't know anything."

"For all practical purposes, I have no right brain. People with high IQ tend to have low EQ. That's emotional quotient..."

"Walter,"

"...so these big speeches, pep talks they don't work on me. They work on athletes, they work on children, they work on waitresses..."

"Walter,"

"...they don't work on people like me."

It was so unnerving seeing him like that, so I decided to do the one thing I knew will snap him out of his head. I touched him. It was nothing big, really. I only took his hand in mine. "Walter! Look at me! It's me." As soon as I did that I could tell my words reached him. So I looked in his eyes. "I know."

The minute I was sure he was safe I let go of his hand. I could swear I saw something in his eyes the moment our fingers separated, something like regret? No, I must have imagined that.

I started speaking as soon as I got his attention. "I know that you're scared. You don't know how to solve the problem and you're terrified because people will die."

"Well, they won't die because of me."

"And they won't live because of you, either, because you're just giving up and walking away!"

"Don't lecture me about how people dying will make me feel. I already know!" His face went red and he was getting upset all over again.

 _Stupid, stupid, so stupid!_ Without really thinking I grabbed his hand again. "I'm sorry Walter, that's not what I meant." He met my gaze and relaxed a little bit. "I know you went through a lot in the past. But you can't let it get the better of you now."

His big brown eyes were now locked on mine. I could almost see his brain working, trying to take in what I just said.

Slowly, his expression changed. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and when he opened them again all the hesitation wasn't there anymore.

I would give a lot to just get a peek of what happened in his head at that moment.

"Thank you Paige. You're right, my reaction was clearly unreasonable." Well, that's not exactly what I was expecting, but at least it means he is not abandoning.

I looked around and to my concern I saw Ralph standing next to the back door, looking up at the sky. "Hey, sweetheart. Let's go back inside, okay?" I said to my son. But he didn't budge. He was still staring straight up. Following his gaze my eyes found a plane passing above us.

###

 **WPOV**

"Can you think of anything we can do?" When I heard Cabe say those words I was positive there was nothing more we could do for all those people and as a result they will have to die. I looked at everybody, then at Cabe and I shake my head.

I don't react to things emotionally. People tend to say it's arrogance, but I take pride in the fact that emotions don't cloud my judgment. I simply don't feel them.

And yet I stormed out of the room because all of a sudden I needed air. My whole body tensed and I could feel my muscles begin to shake. My pulse was racing and in seconds my hands became freezing cold and sweaty.

I heard someone opening the door and come out of the diner, then approach me. I don't know who I thought it would be. But the fact that I saw Paige took me by surprise.

She started talking to me. I could tell what she was saying was meant to help, but I couldn't focus. All I could think about was that I don't have emotions. So that was what I answered. Due to how I am, nothing she will say can help me. I could tell she was repeating my name, but I wasn't listening. And then she did something I wasn't prepared for.

She touched me.

The moment her fingers touched my cold hand I was back to reality. "Walter! Look at me! It's me." My eyes focused on hers. "I know," she said and withdrew her hand. I couldn't help but feel strange at this loss of contact and I think it must have shown on my face. It was as if I wasn't controlling my own reactions anymore.

"I know that you're scared. You don't know how to solve the problem and you're terrified because people will die."

"Well, they won't die because of me."

No. I am not scared. This is not an emotion I know. And this won't be my fault.

"And they won't live because of you, either, because you're just giving up and walking away."

"Don't lecture me about how people dying will make me feel. I already know!" I shouted in her face. I just... lost it?

"I'm sorry Walter, that's not what I meant. I know you went through a lot in the past. But you can't let it get the better of you now."

I was looking at her, in her eyes and I was trying to process her words. Sure, she knows me. She knows my past better than anybody. She may think that she knows what is going on in my head, but this is technically not possible.

Or is it? What if? What if I am letting my past influence the present? If this is the reason I can't help all those people? If this is the case than they really will die because of me.

That did it. I couldn't let it happen. If I become the reason of death for more people just because I was afraid it could happen, than what better I am, with all that intelligence, than anybody else? I can't let emotion, or even feeling, be the motor of my actions. This is not who I am. I analyze and take decisions based on facts.

I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, my mind was set.

"Thank you Paige. You're right, my reaction was clearly unreasonable."

Paige kept my gaze for one more second and then looked around. Her eyes fell on her son, who was staring at the sky. I followed his gaze and saw a plane pass by.

I looked at Paige and I saw she had it too. A plane is all we need to solve this problem.

"Software on the planes," she looked at me with huge eyes, her body showing impatience.

"Come, we need to stop Cabe," was all I said as I stormed back into the diner. Cabe was still on the phone talking with the director of Homeland.

"Don't hang up. Tell them there's still a chance," I said rapidly.

There was a hint of hesitation on Cabe's face but he complied. "Put a pin in that, sir. We may have something here."

"Software's on the planes. They use a duplicate copy to communicate with the tower," Paige cut in. "If they took off before this morning's update, like a flight from Australia or New Zealand, they'll still have the bug-free software on board."

"Okay," Cabe's face was showing much more hesitation now. I looked around and saw that everybody was equally surprised. It took me a split second to understand that it was because of Paige. Nobody here knows her and knows what she is capable of.

I could feel a small smile forming on my face when I nodded at Cabe. A movement on my left caught my attention. It was Toby, his gaze jumping between me, Paige and Ralph. I could tell I will have to put up with one of his interrogations slash therapy sessions once the case is finished. In the back of my mind I started to look for all the reasons that could help me avoid that.

The next few minutes were occupied by me explaining to Cabe and all the others how we can get out of this. Our only problem was time. We needed 20 minutes to get to Klemmer Airfield, where I could download the software. It was way too long. But shutting down roads to save thousands of people seemed too much for Cabe. Too much moving parts and uncertain outcomes. He started to pull back to protect himself. Putting protocol over life, it wouldn't be the first one for him.

Once he left to make some calls, I looked at everybody and they all knew we didn't have the time for this.

"I know he thinks he's helping, but we don't have time for bureaucracy right now." The action plan was already clear in my head. "Happy, if I hack you into the DOT, can you manipulate the traffic signals?"

"They're on standard sequencers. Don't see why not". Great.

I grabbed Happy's laptop to get her into the Department of Transportation asap. "So you shut down the roads, we drive fast as hell, we might be able to pull this off. Toby, I need you to check the manifest…"

"For a passenger up there whose phone is still on. Walt, I got this. Don't worry."

"Alright," I looked at Toby, who was already checking the lists. "I'm gonna need to upgrade my wireless antenna software to pick up the signal from the plane, so someone's gonna have to drive me there." I was trying to find a solution to this one when I heard Sylvester, proposing to drive me. Even though he doesn't know how to drive. He was starting to babble, obviously stressed by the idea of driving.

"Sylvester. I really need you here, helping Toby. But thank you, pal." I smiled at him, understanding the sacrifice he was trying to make.

Then Paige surprised me by taking the laptop from me. "I will hack, you update," she said without hesitation, looking directly at me. I couldn't help but grin, at the same time remembering how we used to pull similar stunts in the past. At that moment I didn't doubt we could do it.

It took her exactly 3 minutes to hack into DoT. I wasn't even half done with the upgrade of my wireless. Time was slipping by, we couldn't afford to lose more of it. I was considering forcing Cabe to drive me, but once again Paige amazed us.

"Driving through L.A. with nothing but green lights it's kind of always been a fantasy of mine," she shoot me a smug smile.

"At high speed? No."

"Somebody's gotta drive and we really don't have that much time left. Come on."

It was so strange, this exchange between us. As if we were again 20 years old and ready to take the world. But now there was her son. She can't take such a risk. "Your son needs you."

"What my son needs is an example, Walter. Please." The idea was crystal clear for her, I could tell so much.

"You're a good mom. Or a very bad one." I couldn't quite decide. But it didn't really matter. I needed to get to the airfield as fast as possible and I liked it or not, she was my best option.

Paige grabbed her car keys and quickly hugged her son. When she was ready to leave, I took my laptop and a radio and we headed to her car.

It turned out to be an old Volkswagen, but more than enough for what we needed it for. Paige sat behind the wheel and I took the passenger's seat. As soon as we were in I switched the radio on and opened my laptop to finish the upgrade.

"Okay, Walter, I'm tracking you on the traffic cams. They should start changing now." We were racing through the streets of L.A. and suddenly all the traffic lights were changing.

"It's working! Hold on!" Paige shouted to the radio. I peeked at her to make sure she's still in the game. "Go faster." She was 100 percent concentrated on the road ahead.

"I'm checking Sigalert; you should head south on Hilgard to Manning, then Santa Monica to Bundy. I'll get you a clear path." Happy gave us another update.

Paige looked into the rearview mirror and cried "I think that's Agent Gallo!"

"Keep driving." I've given it only a quick glance.

I was almost done with the upgrade when we heard Happy. "Guys, stay frosty. I can't get the light on Barrington to change over."

I looked ahead and I could see the intersection of Barrington and Sunset with red light still on. A quick glance at Page told me she was going to speed through the red light, but she really wasn't sure how it'll end.

We were going at more than 100 miles per hour, driving straight onto an intersection when a car came speeding straight onto us.

"No, no, Walter! No! Oh God."

We were only seconds from impact, Paige tried to save us by accelerating even more. Then, out of nowhere, we saw as SUV pass by and hit that second car. In the mirror I saw Cabe getting out of his destroyed car.

"What the hell was that?" Paige shouted next to me.

"Greater good theory in practice," I answered still looking in Cabe's direction.

"Now just get to that airfield and don't make me regret this!" was all we heard before taking another turn and losing him from our sight.

###


	6. Chapter 5

Hello guys. Lots of thanks for your words of encouragement! I appreciate that.

Now just a little more patience, soon you'll learn a bit more about Paige and Walter's past

In the meantime, please keep reviewing! Enjoy.

# # #

 **WPOV**

We were approaching the airfield now, only few moments left. "We're almost there," I said to Paige.

"I hope your friend found someone we can call up there." Paige was looking at me when we got out of the car.

"He did. I know him." Toby knows his tricks. I grabbed my cell to call him but instead I saw a text with a phone number and a brief note explaining that the captain of the plane is up to speed and waiting for my call. This is perfect.

I relayed the information to Paige directly and in the same time I dialed the number. The captain answered instantly.

"This is Captain Pike."

"Captain Pike, you're carrying an uncorrupted version of control tower software. Now, you need to email it to me so it can be downloaded at LAX," I shouted into the phone when Paige and I were getting out of the car.

"Copy. But our onboard wireless only has a limited reach. What do you want me to do?" The pilot's voice was clear, even if a bit unsteady. This means he is calm enough to do what needs to be done. Remains to know if he will be willing to do it.

"Buzz the tower at 100 feet. I should be able to grab your wireless."

"Where will you be?"

"We just arrived at Klemmer Airfield; we called ahead. Runway two has been cleared."

"I'm right over Klemmer. Could be there in less than a minute." Good, he seemed focused.

I run into the control room at the airport looking for someone in charge of this place. Middle aged man was heading in my direction. He pointed me at an empty desk. I put my laptop and started to establish the connection to LAX.

Thirty second later I was ready to intercept the signal. "Okay. I've linked my computer up to LAX, so as soon as I get the download, they'll have it as well."

From the corner of my eye I saw Paige enter the room few seconds after me. She took place behind me and looked outside the window.

"Here it comes," she said looking at the airplane that was heading straight in our direction.

The plane was still on a descent but almost at 100 feet heights. Five more seconds and the pilot will pass inches from the room we were in. Given the trajectory, the pilot will have to start rising the machine just after he passes the tower.

"Captain Pike, maintain at 100 feet. I should be able to catch your Wi-Fi signal and download your software." I informed the pilot.

We were all looking in the direction of the speeding plane. I rapidly glanced at Paige a moment before the plane was going to fly by. I don't know why I did it. I knew she followed all that was going on easily. She was entirely focused on the approaching plane. Just as everybody else in the room.

I concentrated all my attention on my laptop. The WiFi antenna was upgraded and ready to receive the signal, the connection to LAX was secure. Now everything depended on the technology.

The moment the plane passed above the control tower I noticed everybody but Paige dropping to the ground. I don't know why they did it. The trajectory of the plane was even so clear. There was no way it would hit us.

My gaze was on the screen when the plane passed by. But nothing changed. _We didn_ _'t caught the signal!_

"This is Captain Pike. Do I have confirmation? Over. Were you able to download that software?"

As I heard captain's voice, a realization came to me. "No, there's too much of a speed differential between a plane and a stationary laptop. Over."

"Mr.O'Brien, I've got 240 souls onboard. Please tell me there's something else you can do."

My thoughts were racing now. We already overcame multiple obstacles to save all those people. I was confident there was a solution to this one as well.

The problem was the difference between a speeding plane and a stationary laptop. So two possible solutions. Either the plane has to come to a halt or the laptop needs to match the plane's speed. We already knew that the first solution was not possible. So I had to find a way to apply the second one.

"We have to solve the speed differential problem." I answered. A plan was already forming in my head.

When we arrived at the airfield, I saw a Ferrari parked just at the entrance. I motioned to Paige to follow me and I dashed out in the direction of the parking.

"Happy, I need you to get me into a Ferrari 458." I said to the radio.

"Force the gas cap open. There's an engine cover emergency release." She responded immediately.

"Done."

"Left hand side of the engine bay. Pull out the ECM chip."

As soon as I did this, I could hear the door lock open. I looked at Paige, who was just behind me. I could see she understood what I wanted to do. And given that her face was flushed due to an increased amount of blood flow, which in turn was caused by increased pulse, I could see that she was afraid. I smiled at her, trying to comfort her, then I started explaining my plan to the pilot.

# # #

 **PPOV**

As soon as I noticed the Ferrari I knew what Walter's plan was. He would solve the speed differential problem by speeding in a car next to a plane. Now we could try using the WiFi again, but honestly I was pretty sure he won't risk it. The optimal solution here would be to hardwire his laptop and the plane's computer to download the software. But how the hell do you do that?

"Can you get that plane about eight feet off the ground?" I heard Walter's words and I could tell what he was planning on doing. And I really didn't like it. Neither did the pilot, given the tone of his voice when he answered.

"Eight feet? What for?"

"Can't risk missing the wireless signal again, so we're gonna have to hardwire it into the computer."

"How exactly do you plan on doing this?" the pilot asked, his voice a bit unsteady.

"We're gonna be driving beneath you." I caught Walter's eye when he said that to the pilot. He knew very well that this is crazy. His plan was even worse than I expected. To drive a few feet beneath a speeding plane? It's just insane!

I could say the pilot took it on himself and was trying very hard not to show his real emotion when he answered. "You'll only have seven seconds to receive that file. Any longer, we're not gonna get this plane back up, and we will crash."

"That will not happen, most likely. Do it in one minute," Walter instructed the guy.

"Roger that." The pilot answered. Than after a moment he added "Good luck."

We will need all the luck we can get, I was sure of that. Now I had to make clear what my role in all this was. "You expect me to sit in this car while a plane is right over us?" I looked at Walter.

"No, you're gonna be standing up through the sunroof," was his answer. Plain simple. As if he was doing this all the time and was expecting that everybody else does too.

"Oh, okay. All right, okay, okay." My reaction surprised him. He wasn't expecting fear I suppose. But I was scared. My voice was high and trembling and I was babbling.

"You're gonna have to trust me now." Walter looked in my eyes and in an even stronger attempt to calm me he took my hands in his. "I will not let anything happen to you. You're the one that said you wanted to save everyone. This is our only chance." He didn't move until he saw I made my mind.

It was unsettling to see him so focused on the goal that he resorted to touching me to get what he wanted. Plus he was right. I was the one who wanted to save everybody. The question was: do I want to save them no matter the cost? I have a son and there is nobody to take care of him if this goes wrong. But on the other hand Walter believes it'll be OK and he is almost always right. How will I be able to live knowing that I could have helped save all these people? How will Ralph react once he discovers what I did, or rather what I didn't do?

That's where I made my mind. The thought of my son turning his back on me because I did nothing was worse than death. So I looked at Walter and nodded.

This same instant we heard captain informing us that he's preparing the plane for the second approach. We didn't lose our time. In seconds we were in the car, heading for the runway.

"Oh, my God," escaped my lips once I was in the speeding car. I was starting to panic again. My hands were sweaty and starting to shake. My voice was unnaturally high. I couldn't take my eyes off the window and the indistinguishable landscape behind.

"You ready?" Walter asked, looking at me. We were already going at 80 miles per hour and everything outside the car was a blur.

"No."

"Hit the roof panel."

"No." I answered in a panicked voice. I could hear the sound of the plane's engine roaring above us.

"Hit the roof panel."

"Okay, okay," I shouted. But still I didn't move.

"Do it now!" Walter was getting impatient.

"Oh my God. Oh my God!" I cried as I pushed the panel open. It flew away and hit the ground behind us.

When I looked up, the plane was suspended only few feet above me. "Oh, my God!" I shouted when Walter accelerated even more.

I could see a guy leaning on the wheel of the plane above. He was reaching down with the wire in his hand. "Come on! You got to reach it!"

I tried to catch it but he was too high.

"Come on, reach for it! Just try!"

I went on my toes but still it was too high. Than we heard Walter shout "Drop the cable! Drop it now!"

"I got it! Yes! I got it! Okay, it's in. It's downloading, it's downloading!"

"What's it say?"

"I don't know, a few seconds. It needs a few seconds."

"We're running out of road!"

"Still loading!" I cried and quickly looked ahead. The end of the runaway was coming fast. "Just a few seconds left! Almost there!"

As I said that the pilot started rising the plane. I went as high as I could. Walter sped up even more. The wind was so strong I was barely able to stay up. "It's going!" I shouted.

With one last glance at the screen I cried "Got it!" and I let go of the laptop as I collapsed on the car seat.

"Look out!" I shouted and closed my eyes. I could hear the tires squealing. The car stopped abruptly only inches from the concrete wall.

All the tension evaporated instantly. We were alive and all the people were saved. Walter started to laugh furiously. Seems that it impacted him too after all. But not more than me. I ended up leaning over the car door, vomiting.

Walter called his team moments after we stopped. Everybody was on their way here now and Ralph was coming with the fed guy. Walter was looking at me. We had around 10 minutes before they arrived.

"Thank you Paige. We couldn't do this without you."

"Glad I could help."

"You know I'm not very good at this..."

"I know. And you don't need to do anything, really." I could tell he had something on his mind, but he didn't know what to do. "We will just go to living our lives as before."

"Yes, like before you left."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. You should join us. You're like us. And so is your son."

He got me there. Ralph is just like him.

"I can't, Walter."

The cars were stopping on the side of the runway and I saw Ralph get out.

"I have to go. It was nice seeing you again," I said and I left him there, surprised.

Ralph was waiting for me with Sylvester next to my car. When he saw me, he smiled. A real smile, one that happens so rarely. I couldn't help but think it was thanks to Sylvester. They seemed so comfortable with each other, even if not talking.

"Hi honey. Go to the car please. We will be going home."

I looked at Sylvester and thanked him for watching over Ralph.

"Sure, it was a pleasure," he answered. But he didn't leave. Then after a moment of hesitation he finally asked "Will you be working with us now?"

 _What the hell?_ "Why would you think that?"

"Well, it's clear you're like us. And you know Walter. Plus you really helped us today. All those people would die if it wasn't for you. It's only logical to think that Walter would offer you to join us."

He was so sure of himself. All this was so logical and simple, for both of them. But not for me. I have to think of my son too. And of the results if things went too far with Walter. I can't put Ralph through this again. We already got burned once and I will not make the same mistake again.

"No Sylvester, I don't think this will happen. It was nice to meet you, all of you. Take care." I smiled at him and left to join Ralph.

Once I was in the car I cast one last glance in Walter's direction and I left.

# # #


	7. Chapter 6

Hello again. So here is next part of Paige and Walter's adventures from my point of view. And this time we get a bit of Toby too.

And patience, real flashbacks will come soon ;)

Please review and let me know what you think of the whole!

# # #

 **WPOV**

It's all over. All the planes are saved. Hundreds of people are going to live thanks to us. Thanks to Paige. If it wasn't for her, I suppose I wouldn't be able to go through with this. She made me see solutions where I initially thought were none.

For someone like me it's a strange feeling, knowing that there are things I can't think of by myself. It's quite unnerving, really.

It makes me think of the past. The time we were a team. Sure, the stakes weren't the same. It was all virtual. But the questions were similar. How to manage to pass a level in a game with minimum loss and maximum efficiency. She was always gifted at finding solutions where almost everybody abandoned. She was always persistent. Just like today.

I certainly wanted to make sure she won't disappear on me again. But that's only part of the reason why I asked her to join Scorpion. Clearly, another part are her abilities. She more than proved today how capable she is to keep up with us. She could even outrun us in so many regards.

But there is also a third reason. Her son. I can't quite catch why, but I seem to care about him. Since I met him yesterday, I have this urge to protect him, to look after him. And this even before I learnt he was Paige's son. Now that I know, I am less worried. He's lucky his mother is just like him. She understands him and she can accommodate all his needs. My parents couldn't do this for me. I suppose it's why it was so difficult for me to fit in.

Except she refused.

I wasn't expecting that to happen. I didn't consider this possibility. So it put me off balance when she said she won't join, and I didn't react fast enough. When I gathered my thoughts, she was already gone.

"Well done Walt!" Toby cried just before giving me a hug. I tensed instinctively. It was so Toby and so not me. Physical interaction is not my forte. I don't enjoy it at all.

"Thanks."

"No problem my friend. So, what happens now?" Toby was looking straight at me and it was making me highly uncomfortable. Even more so than his hug. I had an impression he was asking of something specific, but couldn't catch his meaning.

"I am going to see Cabe now," was my answer.

"Deal's a deal," said Cabe when I approached and he handed me four envelopes, containing our payment. But this wasn't right.

"Paige, she deserves a share."

"I'll see to it," he said and looked at me in his unique way. I remembered this gaze from way back, when we were working together. He was proud of what I've achieved today. "When we worked together, that didn't pan out the way either of us wanted. I was hoping, moving forward, things could be different."

"Moving forward?" I wanted to make sure I understood him well.

"I came to L.A. to start a strategic response team. At any given time, we deal with everything from stolen nukes to missing kids to counterfeit cash so good it can collapse our economy in less than a month. The bad guys are getting smarter. And I can't train my agents to think like you do. I have the full resources of the U.S. government. I need your help, and I think you and your team need a home."

That was exactly what I predicted. I was prepared. "Here," I handed him a folded sheet of paper.

A small smile formed on his face when he read it. "Fixed salaries, cars, research lab. You saw this coming."

"It was your only logical move," I answered.

We exchanged few more words, mostly about our past. I was still reticent to the idea of working with Cabe. It's hard to put aside all that happened with Baghdad. But for the sake of Scorpion, I had to do it. He is right, we really need home.

The team was just where I left them. As I approached, Toby started his usual babble. "Okay, lips are parted, leaning slightly forward. You have something to tell us."

He couldn't be more right. I smiled. "He offered us jobs."

"Me, too?" What a strange question is this?

"We're a team, aren't we?" They all seemed… content with the outcome of this job.

When I said that my thoughts went back to Paige. It must have shown somehow because next thing I heard was Toby. "The waitress just left to bring her son home. You just missed her." I really would like to know how he does that.

I nodded and headed for my car.

I thought this was the end, but Toby followed me.

"Hey. Don't think you'll get rid of me so easily."

"Wouldn't dream of it. What do you want?"

"Paige, huh?"

"What about her?" I was actually playing dumb. Even if I wasn't 100 percent sure, I had a pretty good idea what he was referring to.

"Oh please. You two were acting like an old couple back there in the diner."

"Please. Just let go of it." I begged and turned back. I must have been convincing because he actually agreed. Kind of.

"OK. For now. But this conversation is not over!" he yelled after me.

I just waved at him and got in my car.

Now that I was finally alone, I still couldn't really focus. Too much things were firing on my brain. I need to concentrate.

Paige.

Think of Paige.

Close your eyes. Deep breaths.

My blood pressure was getting back to normal. It took me few moments to completely calm down.

Next thing was to decide what my next step should be. I certainly didn't want to let Paige go again. Or her son. Since I met her, she was important in my life. And now, as I met her son, I realized it would be even harder. They are both important.

I had no laptop, as mine got destroyed earlier. I will have to go back to the garage then. I looked back. Everybody was getting to Toby's car. I have to hurry if I want to avoid them.

At the garage I grabbed my spare laptop and headed up to the loft. I needed some privacy and my team never come up there. This will do.

I was already halfway through the firewall of the SSA (Social Security Administration) when I heard door open and everybody got in. I was going to check for Paige's SS information to get her address. As soon as Cabe gets her payment I will pay her a visit.

That's basically all the plan I got so far. Sure, normally I would be more to the point, but it is Paige we're talking about. I could never predict her reactions.

Five more minutes and I was in. It took me like 30 seconds to find her address. I hesitated, but what could it hurt? So I spied a bit on her past. She first appeared in the system 7 years ago, working as a cashier in a supermarket. That's where her SSN was requested. Since then few more jobs like that, few mentions of her son, a doctor's appointment, school. But nothing before 2007. She must have wiped everything that happened before.

The most important is that I have her address now. I can go and ask her directly what happened 10 years ago.

By the time I was done all the noises in the garage went down. I thought everybody left. But I wasn't that lucky. Few minutes later Toby entered the loft.

# # #

 **TPOV**

This was an interesting day. What started like a usual after-the-gamble day, with me running away from the poker table only because some guys were really bad at loosing, ended being a day we saved the world. Or at least Los Angeles. Smaller, but still quite freaking cool, right?

When this fed appeared at the Garage I sensed something wasn't right. By the way Walter tensed his shoulders and straightened his posture I knew there was some history between those two. And not necessarily good one, judging by how cautious Walt became the instant he recognized this guy. As if a single word could lead to a catastrophe. So yeah, when I heard the story, tens of planes and hundreds, if not thousands of people dead if we don't help, I was pretty sure what Walt's reaction would be. And I wasn't disappointed. He refused to even consider the situation. It took Happy and some guilt manipulation to reason with him. But it's Walter. In the end we knew he won't let people die knowing he could help. So we stormed out heading to the airport. But we ended up in a lousy diner on the outskirts of L.A. At least the waitress was pretty.

The next two hours were intense. We hacked, programmed, profiled, even drove at high speed under a plane. We hoped, lost it, fight with each other and made up. But most of all we learnt something new about our boss slash friend. We all always knew there are parts of Walter's past we knew nothing about, important parts. Today I think we found one such part.

Paige.

So as soon as everybody went home I went upstairs to talk to him.

"Hi Walt. Do you have a minute?" I said as I entered the loft and helped myself to the couch. Judging by Walt's gaze, he wasn't hot for it, but I didn't leave him any choice. „So, what was that today with this Paige girl?"

His eyes went huge and he answered way too rapidly, with a little shaky voice, „I don't know what you mean." And he rapidly looked away.

„Oh, please. The way you were glancing at her each time you thought nobody was looking. Hell, the way you two were working together." Not to mention her kid, I thought, but decided not to pull this card yet.

I was looking at him the whole time, he was getting more and more nervous.

„We worked together a few years before. Then she disappeared. I was surprised to see her at the diner today. That's all." The way he looked away and grabbed his cup just to put it back down few seconds later, I knew he was lying. There was more.

„Walter, do I need to remind you who you're talking with? It wasn't just surprise. You were on fire there with her, both of you were. Anyway, who is she?"

"An old friend," he answered, offered nothing more. He still wasn't looking at me. Suddenly, a small stain on the kitchen counter seemed to take all his attention.

It was strange seeing him so shaken. I seriously think it was the first time 197 showed so much emotion. There was a whole story behind it he didn't want revealed. And this made me push that much harder.

"Sure, and that is why you are scrubbing that countertop since five minutes, even though there is nothing there?" This finally made him look at me. I saw he wasn't happy with this, but he finally decided to speak.

"I met her when I was 19. I went to States, MIT, to take a class on Biomedical Information Technology, she was there too. I noticed she was like me, we started talking and became friends. We worked together for a while. Then, around 10 years ago, she disappeared. So today, seeing her in that diner, I was surprised. That's all."

He was trying to act casual but I wasn't so easily duped. He was still shaken. I decided to plant a seed in his mind to see where this would lead me.

"You said she left 10 years ago? What age is this boy of hers again? Nine?" I said and observed Walter very closely. "You think this is a coincident?"

Walter seemed shocked. He seriously didn't think of this before. "Hmmm, you may be right, Toby. Why didn't I think of this earlier? But why would she do that? Why run?" He looked at me, completely stunned by this idea.

"You will have to ask her, Walt." That's all I could offer. He definitely needed a push, but nobody could take this decision for him.

"Yes, I will do that," he answered, smiling.

"Good." We looked at each other. He knew I knew there was more. And he knew I wasn't abandoning. But for the moment we reached an impasse. For now I just grabbed his car keys from the table and said "Go," and I tossed it to Walter. He caught it and run out from the garage. I knew this wasn't over and I will have to observe him closely. And if my PhD is worth something, I am sure I will get a chance to look at the two interacting more in the future.

I don't know the situation between those two, but Walter is my friend and I have to do all I can to help him understand the situation. He is clearly not aware of it, but he has a son.

# # #


	8. Chapter 7

Hi guys! Sorry for the late update. Got wrapped up in my work, plus had some personal stuff to attend to.

But there it is, seventh chapter of my story A bit shorter than usually, but I hope the content will reward you!

So enjoy and don't forget to leave me a review with your opinion.

# # #

 **Third person narration**

Half an hour after his discussion with Toby, Walter was standing in front of Paige's apartment building. His courage, boosted by Toby, was starting to dwindle. But one thought about the reason why she left made things clear in his head once again. He still apprehended the meeting, but the desire to know the truth was much stronger.

Next thing he noticed was him knocking on Paige's door. His heart rate accelerated and he started to breath heavily. He was feeling anxious. First time since a while he reacted this way to something.

Few moments later Walter could hear a movement behind the door and it swung open. He looked up and there she was. It hit him that he was actually afraid of not finding her here; that this was one more of her tricks. He was anxious about meeting her, but he was just as anxious about losing her again.

Paige couldn't control the smile that came out when she saw him.

"Walter. Come in. I thought you'd come." She knew it was dangerous to have him at her place, but she was happy. She thought a lot about today and it was clear she missed him.

"I know it's late. I'm sorry. I just wanted to say thank you for your help today."

"You're welcome," Paige answered. "You came all the way over here to tell me that?" She could see there was something else on his mind. Hell, there were probably thousands of things there right now. Just like in her own head.

"No, I also wanted to offer you a job. Government-funded problem solvers."

She looked at him and was sure he came for much more than that. So she decided to get straight to the bottom of it. "And the real reason?"

But she also knew she couldn't give him more. It was really killing her, but she knew she had to turn him down, whatever the real reason was.

"You know why." He looked her deep in the eyes, trying to decrypt her motives. "Why did you leave? I went through many possibilities. I analysed everything that happened between us. I couldn't find any reason."

Without even noticing it, and certainly without permitting it, she started to hope. Hope for some kind of relationship between them. Hope for a family for her son. But it will never happen, not with Walter.

Even though Walter wasn't very good at reading people, he would swear he saw something die out in her eyes. The change was small, but he knew Paige well in the past and apparently she didn't change that much. He could still read her a bit. The knowledge that she was expecting something else thought was troubling.

"It's complicated, Walter."

"I think I can handle complicated."

"Not this kind of complicated. Trust me, Walter."

"I think I deserve an explanation. What did I do?" He seemed so vulnerable, almost lost. It was clear he spent days, if not months, trying to justify what she did. She did owe him as much. But what to say? She could never tell him the truth, she knew as much. She can't burden him with a child out of the blue.

She decided the safest option will be to tell him as much truth as possible. "You did nothing. It was my fault. I promised myself I won't burden you with emotion, no matter what. I thought I could be like you, have no feelings, no emotions. And it was working for a while. But at one moment I couldn't keep it up anymore."

"Keep what up, Paige? I don't understand." Walter was getting impatient.

"I fell in love with you Walter," was all she said.

He looked at her with a shocked expression. He wasn't expecting this. Nobody could blame him. She did drop it like a bomb on him after nearly ten years.

"It was ten years ago. Don't worry, it doesn't matter now. It's over."

"If it doesn't matter, then accept my proposition," Walter persisted. He really wanted her to join Scorpion. She had something none of them had. She was sociable, could interact with others. She understands normal people. So that's the justification he gave her. "Scorpion needs someone who is comfortable around normals."

Paige felt a little disappointed. She thought there was something else there, something more behind him being so insisting. But apparently he didn't evolve. His emotional intelligence was as down as always.

"You could hire anybody to do that. You don't need me. There are normals that will be comfortable around you guys also."

"That's true. But the difference is that you are like us. You can not only interact with normals at their level, but you can interact with us at our level as well. And this doesn't happen often. Plus you master Biotechnology, an area of knowledge none of us really knows. You will be a huge asset to the team."

"I don't know, Walter." Paige was at a loss. Walter's reasoning was logical and from what she saw unfold today, they really needed help. But was it safe? Surely she got over the feelings she once had for Walter. But what about Ralph? If she accepts, Walter may learn the truth one day.

Walter was looking into Paige's eyes and he could see she was having an internal fight. There clearly was something more to her refusal. He needed to find a way to convince her.

"I know there is something you're not telling me, but it doesn't matter. We all have our secrets. We are not the same people we were ten years ago. But this doesn't mean we can't use this meeting to our advantage. You already know how you can help me. And I can see you could use a change too. You work as a waitress, this can't be enough for you. Nor can it pay enough. You're worried about the future, I can tell. This job is a second chance." This whole speech made him uncomfortable. He started fidgeting, his hands were sweating and his heart rate started to increase. He was actually nervous about what Paige's answer will be.

Paige's resolve to stay away was melting with each second she was looking into his eyes, filled with hope. She still wasn't completely convinced he went to such a lengths only to hire her. And longer she thought about it, more she wanted to find his real motives.

But what about Ralph? What if he gets attached to the team and Walter finds out the truth? Will he stay, or will he abandon Ralph? Could she really take the chance?

While she was asking herself all those questions, Ralph entered the living room. "Hi Walter," he greeted the genius.

"Hey, Ralph."

Paige was shocked. "He doesn't talk to anyone but me." She looked from Ralph to Walter, confused.

"He recognizes one of his own." A smile formed on Walter's face when he looked at Ralph. The boy sat on the couch and pushed the game controller in Walter's direction.

"May I?"

Paige just nodded. She still couldn't believe what was happening. In front of her was a view she so long dreamed about. Father and son, together, like a family. Only they didn't know who they were to each other. At that moment she started to doubt her actions. She started to wonder that maybe her decision to leave was premature and she should have told Walter she was pregnant ten years ago instead of taking the decision for him. But on the other hand, he is more mature now than he was all those years ago.

The longer she looked at them together the harder it was to refuse Walter's proposal. Because sure, there was a possibility that they will get hurt. But there was also an option where the three of them had something together. Maybe not a family, but close enough. She couldn't take that from Ralph.

The game started and Walter found himself content and enjoying it. Since he met Ralph, he was wondering about the depth of his intelligence. Since their small chess game he knew it was high. And then Ralph beat Sylvester, the grand master.

"You ever pause your dreams, Ralph?"

"Yeah."

"Ever rewind them?"

"Sometimes."

"Yeah, me, too." Walter smiled and glanced at Paige with the corner of his eye. What he saw on her face was most certainly joy. He knew everything would be OK now.


	9. Chapter 8

Hello again

I hope you're enjoying the story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. It's quite an adventure I have to say.

Otuowa Yanney: I think there are lots of ways he wouldn't connect the dots. For example, Walter is in major denial all the time. I wouldn't go as far as to say she stole his s***, but the idea of him being unconscious, why not ;) He does have a problem with alcohol after all…

Anyways, if you want to know all the story and understand all the motives, you'll have to keep reading ;)

It's the first time I write anything so I suppose there are bound to be errors in the plot or anything. Don't hesitate to comment if you think things are not very believable. It will certainly help me keep it as good as possible.

 **# # #**

 **WPOV**

When I left Paige's apartment that evening, I was shaken. That whole day was extremely eventful and not at all expected. My brain was firing a whole bunch of stimuli at me. I started rememorizing the past. With photographic memory recalling the smallest thing that happened years ago was easy. Everything was clear in my mind, every other image, sound, word. Without my control my thoughts went to the time I met Paige.

It was 11 years ago at MIT. I came to States to take a quick course in Quantum Complexity Theory. It was supposed to be a 2-months stay. But thanks to her, I never left.

Around 2 weeks into my course I went to see a lecture on Biomedical Information Technology. I knew the teacher from Ireland, I attended one of his guest lectures on Classical Mechanics he gave in Dublin a few years back and I appreciated his expertise. Plus this was an area of knowledge I didn't know and I needed it for my research on MS.

I was already used to the fact that most kids in this school were really smart. Nowhere near me, they actually had to work to acquire the knowledge, but high enough for the discussions in class to be interesting. Even for me.

But the discussion this girl had with the teacher was way ahead of anything I heard before. She was discussing the applications of Artificial Intelligence in biotechnology with such a facility, it was hard to believe she was actually a student without any significant experience in the matter. They discussed the AI and its possibilities or an idea of using AI to effectively create connections between different protein networks in human body in order to determine patterns and thus possibly automatically create a map of human body's protein paths and its functions.

This discussion stretched for an hour after the lecture ended. I stayed, as well as a bunch of other students. We were all hypnotized. I think they all learned more during this exchange than during the lecture itself.

I thought she was a professional with years of experience before I saw her. It was then clear she was young, very young. I was so intrigued I decided to approach her after the lecture. And it's not something I did often at the time. More like I never did such things, neither in the past nor now. It was a first, out of a whole series of firsts with her.

So when she was finally done with questioning the professor, I run out just to wait for her. And I waited, for another 30 min.

It turned out I wasn't the only one who decided to speak to her. I spent this time pacing around, impatient to meet this girl who might be close to my own abilities. The thought of someone similar in this foreign country was so appealing, it was making me nervous.

While waiting nearby, I was in a very good position to observe her. I was stunned by her social abilities. I mean, if she's like me, she shouldn't have any, right? But there she was, interacting with normals, even if highly intelligent, as if she was one of them. She was laughing at their jokes, telling her own jokes. And I was sure she wasn't normal. No normal could have displayed what she did in that class. I was kind of lost. The urge to approach her was becoming stronger every minute.

So I was shocked when it was her who approached me. One minute she was with the other students and the other she was standing in front of me, and I didn't even notice.

"Hi," she said, smiling at me.

"Um, hi."

"I saw you from over there," she said pointing at the place where the other students were still standing. "You looked as if you wanted to join us."

She was still looking at me and smiling, as if waiting for something. _Wait, was this a question?_

"Um, yes, I wanted to talk to you," I said, straightening. I didn't want to look undecided, or lost.

"Well then, talk to me."

"Are you a genius?" I blurted out. At that time, it was a perfectly normal thing to ask. It was efficient, no time lost. Even if I still think it was the best thing to say, now I know it must have been really strange for her.

But I'll be damned if she didn't just smile and say „I don't know."

Her answer put me off balance. I mean, how can she not know? So I asked her.

„I never checked and I don't really care, you know. I know what I can do and I don't need anybody putting a number on it."

That was new. Usually people wanted to know how intelligent they were. I know I wanted to know this. But not her. It was only later that I learned she simply was confident enough in her own abilities and she didn't need anybody's approval. She simply didn't care.

But I was curious so I used the technique I discovered a while back. "When you watch a pinwheel, can you replay it in your mind in slow motion to count the revolutions?" I asked, because I just couldn't stand not knowing.

"Some of them, yes"

"Yeah, you're probably borderline genius."

"Thanks for letting me know, I guess..." she answered.

Then we were just watching each other. The silence was getting a little uncomfortable. I didn't want to leave, but I didn't know what to say. But once again she took initiative.

"OK. So I suppose I will just…"

"Yes, me too."

"See you around," she said and left.

I watched her walk away knowing that we will probably never see each other again. At that thought I felt something in my chest tighten, as if someone was squeezing my body from the inside. I didn't understand the meaning of this at the time. I never experienced anything like that before.

The next few days went as usual. I almost forgot about this strange girl, but a small thought of her was all the time somewhere in the back of my mind.

A week has passed and totally by accident we stumbled at each other again, in the campus' library. Once again she came to me. We started talking. AI in cryptography research or news in computer programming. Before we knew it, the library was closing and we had to leave. It was the first time in my life I didn't finish the day's work.

That's how it all started. From there on we started to spend all the time together. I helped her with her computer skills and she showed me the possibilities of biotechnology in medical research. For weeks we were exchanging knowledge, discussing potential areas for progress.

Then, without even knowing it, we started to speak about things other than science. Somehow, I confided in her. I told her all about my family, how hard it was to live with parents who didn't understand me, with teachers who couldn't accept a gifted child. But most of all, I spoke about my sister. How she always knew I was in trouble and how to help me. And that she was dying. That's how I shared with her my project of discovering a cure for MS. She was the first and only person I trusted enough to speak about it.

Even today she remains the only one. Nobody in Scorpion knows about Megan and her struggle for life or my fight for her. Only Paige.

Then, my thoughts were disturbed by a phone call. It was my cell. I didn't even look at the caller ID, so I was shocked when I heard Paige.

"Hi Walter."

"Paige. I wasn't expecting your call."

# # #

 **PPOV**

Walter's visit destabilized me completely. The image of Ralph and Walter sitting next to each other and just playing video games burned into my mind and I knew I will never be able to erase it. I will never forget this moment.

Since he was born I did everything I could to make up for the fact he had no father. When Drew came along, I believed everything would be OK, that we would be a family.

Ralph was a baby when I met Drew and he fell in love with Ralph the moment he saw him. Those were the best two years. Drew was a Minor League baseball player who moved around quite a lot, but when he was there we would spend time like any normal family does. Afternoons in the park with Ralph, the three of us playing, chasing birds, laughing and just having a good time together. I could see that growing up, Ralph had problems socializing. Even as a toddler he didn't seem to want to play with other kids. But with Drew around, he was more open.

So when it all went up in smoke, Ralph was devastated. It took me months to reduce the effect it had on my son, and Ralph was never again as childlike and happy as before.

Until today. In the diner today he was engaging. I could see he was comfortable around the team, around each of them and especially around Walter. And then here, at the apartment Ralph spoke to Walter. It was the first time in ages he spoke to someone else than me.

I spent a couple of hours considering pros and cons of all this, before I finally fell asleep.

I still remember the dream I had that night. I was in the park, but it wasn't really me. I mean it was me, but another me was there too, along with Ralph and Walter. I was watching everything, a stranger.

 _I saw me and Walter, sitting next to each other on the grass, talking, laughing and observing as our son was having fun with his friends. Friends. Ralph had friends in my dream. And I knew in my heart that Walter knew about Ralph. We were together, happy, a family._

 _But then, suddenly, everything changed and I was now in a school. It was Ralph's school, I could tell from the announcement board that was hanging next to me. The corridor was empty. I started to walk, checking if the school was completely empty when the bell rang. I saw a door open just in front of me and kids were getting out. I recognized some of them, they were from Ralph's class. So I waited to see my son. When it seemed like everybody has already left the class and I still couldn't see Ralph, I looked inside. And there he was, sitting alone, sad._

 _Then everything changed again. I was still at school, but it wasn't exactly the same. Paint was dimmer, more used, everything was less shiny and more dirty. And I saw Ralph again, but this time he was a few years older. He was sitting on the ground, his head in his hands and I was sure he was crying. I ran to him, to console him and ask what happened, but he couldn't hear me. I was screaming, but I was only an observer._

 _After a few moments he raised his head and I understood everything. His bruised cheek told me his story. He was living the nightmare of geniuses. A life of loneliness and rejection._

 _I failed him as a mother._

Suddenly, I opened my eyes. I was in my bedroom, crying furiously. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. All I could think about was the future I was assuring to my son. A life of solitude, a boy locked inside his own brain.

I got up and ran to his room. I had to see my son.

He was so peaceful in his sleep, he looked so happy. No worries were painted on his young face. I wanted so much to see him like this always. Carefree. But deep down in my heart I knew I couldn't do it alone. He needs father in his life.

But is Walter able to become one? He's hardly a grown up himself. So detached from reality sometimes. Just as he was ten years ago.

After hours of considering pros and cons of all this I finally had to admit that I can't strip Ralph of a chance to get to know his father. Even if for me it means trouble and pain. It's not only about me.

So, with a lot of apprehension, I called Walter and accepted his offer.

 **# # #**


	10. Chapter 9

Hello again. So here is another bit of the story. Not a lot of Walter/Paige interactions here. I was rather looking into affirming Paige's place in the team and her competences.

And just so you know, I'm not delaying the pleasure, I'm working on giving you the best I can ;)

Enjoy and let me know what you think of this new Paige

 **# #** **#**

 **PPOV**

First days on the new job were… intense. When I called Walter to accept his offer, I knew it would be difficult. Both the job and the interactions with the team. But it's also dangerous. And I'm not talking only about the kind of situations Scorpion deals with. The idea of me and Ralph hanging around Walter without him ever finding out the truth is... ridiculous. It's Walter, for Christ's sake!

But I know it's way too late to back out now. Looking at my son I can see he has changed already. He's becoming more open, he speaks to everybody on the team, he laughs like a regular kid. To think that a bunch of strangers could do more for my son in a few days than I, his mother, managed to accomplish in 9 years, it really is depressing. But that's the truth. He's in a good place here.

I mean, he did try to make me believe he was sick just to stay with me and the team instead of going to school. He managed to hack a thermometer! God, he's growing so fast.

As for me, it's hard, but I already know I made the right choice.

Coming to the office, only a few days after the LAX case, I really had no idea what to expect. What Walter did tell the rest of the team? What they thought about him hiring me? Were they aware of our past? Those, and many other questions, were hovering in my head when I entered the building. It actually surprised me that they chose for headquarters an abandoned building. Only later did Walter explain to me that when he started Scorpion, he didn't have much money so he bought the cheapest property available on the auction, the only one he could afford. The previous owner went out of business and the propriety was seized by the bank. Since then they all got attached to the place and never even thought of moving.

As it turned out, Walter didn't even tell them I took the job, so everybody was completely surprised when I showed up. I guess this answers my questions about them knowing anything about our relationship. All the better, this way I can start over. Sort of.

I finally got to know what they exactly do. Sylvester is Walter's second in programming and hacking. Plus he's a math genius, able to give all the possible outcomes of a given situation along with the likelihood of each of them appearing. He has quite a computer in his head. Happy can apparently build anything from almost nothing. No construction or material has any secrets for her. And finally Toby. Team's behaviourist. Apparently brilliant in understanding people. Well, that's just my luck, ending up with the best psychiatrist in the world, when I have so much to hide.

I was observing Walter this whole time. I thought he was acting a little different, he was even more distant than before. Towards me, but also towards the rest of the group. So when everybody moved back to their work, I asked him "Are you okay? You don't look so…" But he didn't let me finish.

"Never been healthier," he said and moved his gaze to the pile of paper in his hand. "So, mail arrived. Menus, and paychecks." Walter said, avoiding eye contact with everybody.

How each of them reacted to money told me a lot about them. Toby run to Walter with a huge grin on his face, almost tearing the envelope from him. Sylvester made a comment letting me believe he's not that comfortable around money. And Happy just took the cheque, without unnecessary words.

This done, Walter headed for the loft. He wanted to avoid us. There was clearly something on his mind today and is was making him impatient.

Few minutes later Walter stormed down. „Cabe called. We're all going to meet the governor of California."

"My back-tax status with the state isn't exactly what you'd call good. What's this about?" Toby asked.

"He said hurry, all right? So let's hurry. Paige, Ralph's school is on the way, so we'll drop him off. Come on, guys!"

So we all took our stuff and followed Walter out. As Walter's car was apparently out of service, we all went with my car.

"Heavy security. Way more than you'd expect for the governor," Toby commented when we arrived at the Governor's house. There really was some massive defenses spread out in the backyard.

"Walter, why is there a van from the Center for Disease Control here?" Sylvester asked with a very troubled voice. He was starting to shake out of fear. Sylvester don't like germs and the idea of a dangerous disease being only a few meters from him was freaking him out.

"I don't know, but we'll find out pretty soon," said Walter.

"Uh, they handle diseases that wipe out civilizations. Diseases that have no cure. And they're here."

"It's gonna be fine, come on," I said, trying to reassure him. I was really curious what the hell they were doing there. This organization fights diseases, either natural outbreaks or deliberate attacks. I'm wondering which one it is here. The governor could surely be a target for terrorists.

Cabe went out of the house when we approached the doorway. "Good, you're here. Follow me."

"Wait, why are you wearing a surgical mask around your neck? What exactly are you protecting yourself from?" Sylvester asked with a shaky voice.

"Relax. They put up a quarantine tent."

Cabe's answer didn't really reassure him. "A quarantine tent? I will be in the car."

"Uh, Mr. Gallo, sir? Is there a very terrible, possibly communicable disease in this home?" Toby voiced the question we all wanted to ask.

"Today's not the day to be screwing off. You two go wait with Sylvester," Cabe said to Toby and Happy. I wasn't surprised he didn't address me. CDC means some biomedical skills may be necessary and I was the closest they had to the specialist in this field.

"There's a computer I need you to look at," Cabe said when we entered the house.

In the middle of the living room was a quarantine tent Cabe mentioned and inside we noticed a child, a little girl laying in the bed and a nurse, dressed in a heavy protection gear. "Poor little girl."

"Who's that kid?" Walter asked Cabe.

"That's a need-to-know."

"You know, what I need to know is exactly what's going on. Otherwise, I can't help." Walter got a bit defensive. I mean, nobody likes to be kept in the dark, especially if a dangerous disease is in the game.

That's when we saw the governor heading in our direction.

"Guys, this is Governor Lane," Cabe presented him.

The governor was clearly agitated. His hands were moving purposelessly, from my place I could see he was flushed and he sweated heavily. He revealed the reasons to us moments later, saying that it was his daughter in the quarantine tank.

Before I had a chance to say anything, Walter burst out with the worst words to say in this kind of situation.

"I'm gonna need to know everything that's happening here. So governmental habits of proprietary knowledge and 'need to know', jettison that nonsense or my efforts to help your child will be hampered." He was looking straight into governor's eyes when he said that.

Cabe tried to reduce the harshness of his words, "You have to forgive Mr. O'Brien. He's brilliant but impolitic."

"Don't care what he is, long as he helps. In here," the governor answered and took us to another room, apparently his study. "We're really not trying to hamper anyone, but if the public hears 'unknown virus', it could cause panic. Especially if there's a political motivation."

"What kind of virus?" I asked, even if I was pretty sure they had no idea so far.

"She tested negative for Hanta, Rift Valley, Ebola."

"Eastern equine encephalitis?"

"Also negative. She's only positive for the common cold." His voice was showing more and more desperate.

"The CDC has a database of the rarest infective agents in the world. They're searching," Cabe cut in.

"Yeah, but while they search, Helena's kidneys, liver, lungs: all shutting down. Her fever's cli…"

"How long?" Walter asked.

"Doctors said she has less than 24 hours."

This is not good. Even CDC will have problem with finding a cure in only 24 hours. But the real question here is how did she get sick?

"This is a medical problem. Why am I here?" I was wrong before, this here was the worst thing to say to a man whose child was slowly dying. It was crucial to reduce the harshness of his words.

"First of all, Governor, we're so sorry this is happening to you. I have a child, too, and I can't imagine how you feel. All we want to do is help."

At those words, the governor's posture relaxed a bit. "Thank you. Come with me." So we followed him back to the living room. He led us to the table with a laptop on it. "We found this virus on Helena's laptop a few hours ago."

Both me and Walter, we looked at the screen and we saw a window with only one sentence passing over and over again: It's your fault she's sick. The implication of this one sentence was terrifying. Cabe got it right, someone did make Helena sick intentionally.

"They were targeting you, no doubt. Any idea why?"

"Immigration reform? Three strikes? Those are my hot-button issues, but would they prompt this kind of hostility against my kid?" Good question.

"We're compiling all threats, past and present. The FBI, NSA, Homeland, all the top computer guys been trying to trace the sender. The source bounced around to 15 countries. We hit a wall." So that's the reason why Cabe drag Walter in here.

No other device in the home network got infected with the virus, which means it was directed specifically. No one else in the house got sick even though they all were in Helena's proximity.

Walter looked at me and I knew we were thinking the same thing. He could have taken out the whole home network, but he directed the computer virus at this specific device. This virus is custom-built. So is the disease.

While Walter was explaining this to Cabe and the Governor, I went to the quarantine tent and opened it. They all jumped when they heard the zipper.

"What are you doing? No!" the Governor shouted at me.

"You can't catch it. None of us can," Walter said. "The virus he placed on the computer is custom-built. He did the same with your daughter."

"You're saying he custom-built a virus that would make just this child sick?" Cabe asked.

"Yes," I cut in. "There's computer hacking, and, more recently, there's bio hacking. Someone harnessed the virus of common cold to attack only this child. But in this case the virus was enhanced to kill. Whoever infected the computer also infected Helena."

"But how do you hack into a human body?"

"I get your DNA from anywhere, a coffee cup, a piece of gum, and then I study your genetics for a deficiency, say, lung disease. Then I harness that genetic sequence onto a cold virus."

"And I blow it in your face," Walter said, looking at Cabe.

"Or into the air around you," I added.

Before I could continue Walter interrupted me. "Until we find that person and know exactly what biological agent he used, there's not gonna be any hope for a cure." At the same time Walter started to pack the kids laptop, preparing to leave. I had to do something, he just said to a desperate father that his daughter may soon die. So I went to him and put my hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"That's not entirely true, Walter." I put him off with my words. Cabe also looked confused. It was probably the first time someone corrected Walter. "Even if, as Walter said, finding a cure is complicated, with just a sample of Helena's blood, I should be able to identify at least part of the problem and based on that, find an agent that will delay the spread of the disease."

"This way we will have more time to find the culprit and the cure. Even few hours can make a difference here." Walter said with a smile on his face.

"The thing is, I need a lab."

"I've already thought about that. Cabe, I need you to get her in the Los Angeles County General? They have the necessary research facilities."

Cabe just nodded and took out his cell to make the call.

"Paige, you should find everything you need in that quarantine tent. Governor, please go with Paige. She will take a few samples from your daughter to work on."

So it was settled. Once I took the samples, we both left in a rush and headed for the LACG. It was good to be working together again. And this time we both had the resources of the US government at our disposal.

When we arrived at the Medical Center, a guy who was to be my assistant in the lab was already waiting for us. I grabbed the samples and followed him to the research lab, when Walter and Cabe headed to the garage to meet with the rest of the team.

When I entered the lab, it was like a return to the past and my college years. It's been so many years I set foot in a place like this. I once dreamed of doing biomedical research. But the reality verified my desires. Being a single mother, I just couldn't get a job in any of the research facilities I applied to. A child meant too many constraints to guys in suits. And yet here I am today. I kind of can't believe this. Dreams of my youth are coming true.

I took a quick look around the lab and there was everything I needed. State of the art DNA sequencers, scanning probe and electron microscopes, spectrometers plus a huge library of existing antibodies and a powerful machine with a molecular design software.

Most of this equipment was new and I never used the kind before, but it took me only a few minutes and a few questions to my assistant to get a grip on the functionalities available. In a few minutes I was dressed in the protection gear and ready to start my work.

Finding a way to fight viral infections isn't easy. It's not like antibiotics will work here. No. In fact there is no permanent cure for most of viral diseases. The only advantage is that I know it's the common cold. But for a virus of common cold to be so dangerous, even for a child, it must have been seriously hampered.

Now, viruses need a host cell to survive. They can't replicate on their own, so they invade cells in the human body. Good thing is that a virus can't invade whatever cell it meets. Certain viruses can bind only with particular cells and common cold attacks only the upper respiratory tract.

Together with Max, the biotech intern who was send to help me, we worked on the samples I gathered to identify the virus the attacker used. This way we should be able to identify at least which family of pathogens we're dealing with.

Once we found the pathogen in the cells, it was fast to identify its family, Rhinovirus. It's basically the most common viral infectious agent in humans. Which is actually a good thing. This family is the most documented. I have lots of documentation to work with when I look to neutralize the virus.

But for the moment we weren't there yet. I have to focus on delaying the expansion of the disease.

If it was possible to study the genome to find a specific deficiency, I should be able to reverse the process and look for a gene that has an above average efficiency. I will focus directly on HLA genes as they are responsible for human immune system and for guarding our body against invasion by foreign matter such as bacteria or viruses. If I'm lucky, I will find one that can be further enhanced artificially.

It took us a couple of hours, but we finally found what we were looking for. Then it took only a minor modification to model a protein that, if given to Helena, could boost her system to fight a little while longer.

As soon as I had this, I called Walter, "Hey Walter. I have something."


End file.
